


What Happens In Vacuo

by mantisbelle



Category: RWBY
Genre: Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 13:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8015626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantisbelle/pseuds/mantisbelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stays in Vacuo. James says they'll always have Vacuo, Qrow doesn't want just Vacuo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Happens In Vacuo

**Author's Note:**

> The last of my Ironqrow fic drop fics. This was supposed to go in a direction but it changed course a little bit, not that that's a bad thing. 
> 
> Oh also this is barely edited. 
> 
> Comments are love, enjoy!

It had become a yearly ritual. Every year, ever since the two of them had been in their early twenties, Qrow and James would find themselves sharing a hotel room in the city of Vacuo where nobody tended to notice them. 

It was an old ritual, one that had been born out of fights and anger and had bled into something more gentle and akin to companionship. Qrow came because he wanted a good time, James came because more often than not he desperately needed a vacation, and getting away from the frozen wasteland he called home was almost always welcome.

This year, Qrow was the one to book the room, he was the one to make sure that he and James would be left alone for the duration of their stay. James was going to be arriving late that night by airship, as far as Qrow knew. Or at least, that was what he was expecting. 

Qrow’s transit to Vacuo was easy, he just turned himself into a bird and made it to the city on his own power. The flight was rough, especially since he had to fly over a stretch of desert to manage to get to Vacuo. Fortunately for Qrow, he had a good enough knowledge of the desert that he could stop once in awhile to rest. 

Despite coming to Vacuo under his own power, Qrow still managed to make it there before James, which meant that he had time to get their room in order and comfortable. Whenever James got there, he was almost for sure just going to collapse into the bed immediately and need to rest. 

The flight from Atlas always left James jetlagged. 

This year’s room was comfortable, small with two beds so that the two of them could play up the business meeting angle if they needed to. If it meant that James and Qrow got to avoid public scrutiny, they were glad to do that. However, there were a few minor issues with this room that Qrow was going to have to rectify, and soon.

Namely and most importantly, the small refrigerator they were given needed to be stocked if they were going to enjoy themselves.

Qrow changed from his usual clothes and into something that was a bit looser and would breathe a bit better, grabbed his keys, and went out, hoping that he’d be able to find his way into a good liquor store that would be able to fulfill his needs.

 

* * *

 

The entire world was blotted out in white. 

James should have been boarding an airship and flying out to Vacuo, he should have been landing before nightfall hit the desert kingdom, he  _ should _ have been on his way to see Qrow. 

Instead, he was stuck waiting at the terminal because the snow had gotten so bad that taking off was physically impossible. Normally, James would have taken the helm of the ship and flown himself, but since he was on personal business, he couldn’t justify taking a military airship. 

Regardless of whether he controlled the fleet or not. 

So instead, he sat at the terminal with a small suitcase sitting at his side watching a clock in hopes that he’d get news about whether he’d be allowed to make his flight out to Vacuo. It was an uncomfortable experience, sitting in a civilian port. 

There were too many looks from people who knew who he was. There were too many former students of his crawling around, in addition to people he’d worked with in the past. People he’d let down. Even people that had been turned away because bringing them in as hunters or as members of the military would have been too risky. 

He didn’t have anything that he could do while he waited there to distract himself, and that was the worst part. Sometimes he would look at his scroll in hopes that he’d have a message there that wasn’t work or Ozpin. 

Unfortunately, since James didn’t keep the most active of a social life, that meant he didn’t get many messages. He didn’t put games on his scroll, since doing that always bothered him on no small level due to the fact that he used it for work. 

It was just awkward trying to use it for personal business, James didn’t know why. 

Sadly for James, there were no distractions open to him right now. He was just about to put his scroll back away where it belonged when he heard a quiet sound that wasn’t entirely unlike the cawing of a bird. 

_ Qrow. _

James tapped the message with his thumb. 

It opened up to display a picture of his and Qrow’s hotel room, where Qrow had seemingly already claimed one of the beds as storage. James couldn’t help but crack a smile, but looking up at the sign that still declared his flight as delayed made it disappear again.

A heavy sigh escaped James’ lips as he sent Qrow a response that was just a picture of the delays board.

* * *

 

James was going to be late. 

For some reason, seeing that photo of the delays board was more than enough to break Qrow’s heart. He’d been looking forward to spending the night together with a bottle of wine, but it looked like that wasn’t going to be possible. 

For the second time since this yearly trip together had started, it looked like James wasn’t going to make it in time. The first time that James had missed their week in Vacuo had been when they were young, and only had been because James had been comatose and trying to recover from being torn in half. 

But now, James was stuck in Vale because of the weather. 

Qrow seriously considered the possibility of flying over to Atlas, but it was far, even by sky. Vale to Atlas was manageable, Vale to Vacuo was manageable. But Vacuo to Atlas was too far, over too many oceans. 

He stared down at his scroll, trying to ignore the way that anger was building up in his chest. Qrow frowned, and hit the button that would hopefully connect him to James’ scroll so that they could fix things. 

The phone rang once before James picked up. 

“Ironwood.” James said, like he was expecting a business call. 

“Hey, Jim.” Qrow said, flopping down into the bed that he’d chosen for him and James to share when James arrived. If James arrived. He stared up at the ceiling, and did his best to hide the fact that he was a little bit upset. “Are you doing alright?” 

On the other end of the line, Qrow could hear James get up, the sound of him lifting something, and then beginning to walk in search of a quieter place in the noisy airport. “I’m just… stranded.” James answered, sounding a little bit disappointed himself. “Usually we don’t have storms this late in the year.” 

“Any idea if you’ll be able to make it out?” 

“I… I don’t know, Qrow.” James admitted, sounding terribly sad. “If the storm doesn’t let up and we end up with a crisis here I can’t justify leaving Atlas.” It sounded like James was closing a door, and Qrow had to wonder where James had tucked himself away. “I’m sorry.” 

Qrow knew that he shouldn’t have been upset with James. He knew that James didn’t have any real control over the weather, and James had a duty to his kingdom that had to be kept if things went wrong. Qrow understood all of that, but it still hurt to know that their week together may not be able to happen. 

“I can wait for you here.” Qrow offered, not sure whether or not that would be enough. “If things get bad we can just come back later.”    


The other end of the line was silent, then James’ voice was there, though it was quiet. “I’m going to try and make it, Qrow. I mean it.”

“I know, Jim.” Qrow mumbled. “Keep me posted.” 

“Of course.” James answered. There was a moment of silence where Qrow was willing to bet James was checking to ensure that he was alone before he said anything else. “I love you.” 

And, oh, there was that sadness welling up in Qrow’s chest again. He smiled, realizing that James was just looking for cover before he finally whispered his response, a quiet, simple, “I love you too, Jim.” 

James said his goodbye and hanged up the scroll. Qrow stared at his scroll, feeling impossibly heavy as he realized that there was a good chance that he was going to be spending this week in Vacuo alone. 

He got up, crossed the room, and went to the fridge where he pulled out the good bottle of whiskey that he’d gotten for him and James to share. Qrow frowned as he opened the cap, and drank directly from the bottle.

Qrow didn’t hear from James for hours. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

James had managed to find a quiet corner in the port where he could rest. The word that was going around was that his flight wasn’t going to be able to leave until morning, and James didn’t mind sleeping in an airport while he waited. 

The standing members of the military that he shared this airport with at the moment did mind a bit, but James knew that if worst came to worst he could pull rank and be left alone. 

So James curled up, pulled his greatcoat over him to act as a blanket, and napped on one of the airport benches while he waited. He was only woken up an hour later by a young private that looked like she’d been bullied into coming over to wake him. 

“General Ironwood, sir?” The private asked. James opened his eyes, groggy, and sat up. He let his eyes drift down to the nametag on the girl’s uniform. Private Tyrian, probably a new recruit that’d been picked up out of the academy. 

“What is it?” 

The girl shot up into attention, her dark purple eyes going wide with the realization that she may have misstepped. James waved his hand to assuage her, and he slowly watched as she relaxed. “Your ship will be boarding soon, Sir.” The girl said, keeping her voice low. 

James blinked, then looked out the window to see that the worst of the snow had subsided. How long had he managed to sleep before the girl had come to wake him up. Realizing the situation, James put on his “General Face” and straightened his stance, standing up as tall as he could. “Thank you, Private Tyrian.” James said, keeping his voice soft. “You’re dismissed.” 

The girl snapped him a quick, clean, salute, and James watched for just a moment as she hurried off. He picked up his greatcoat and pulled it on before smoothing it down as it was supposed to be. With his right arm, James effortlessly lifted his bag and began the walk to the terminal where he’d hopefully be able to board.

He stopped just before he reached his desk so that he could send Qrow a quick message to announce that he was in fact on his way to Vacuo finally. With his message sent off, James snapped his scroll shut, boarded, and did his best to endure the trip to Vacuo. 

 

* * *

 

Qrow was passed out in bed when he heard a knock at the door. He peeled his eyes open, groggy, and stared at the door and silently wished death on it. The huntsman tried to drop back down into the bed, almost completely sure that whoever was at the door had to be housekeeping showing up for no reason other than to annoy him.

How dare they show up to annoy him at… Qrow let his eyes glide over to the tiny alarm clock next to the bed. Apparently it was eight thirty in the morning. He pushed himself upright, ignoring the fact that he was wearing next to nothing since the throbbing behind his forehead was a much bigger concern at the moment. 

Qrow opened the door, to see that James was standing there on the other side, looking like he was absolutely sweltering in the heat. 

Wait. 

James was here?

Qrow had to do a double-take to understand what was going on all of a sudden. When had James shown up? James had said he’d keep Qrow posted-

Oh.

Oh no.

He turned to face James, who smiled at him with an almost pained look on his face.

“Qrow, please let me in.” James pleaded. “Kind of dying out here.”

Right. Qrow stepped aside and pushed the door open the rest of the way. James stepped through, and the first thing that Qrow realized was that the other man looked like he was positively exhausted.

James stepped in, and the first thing he did was make a beeline for the spare bed so that he could shrug out of the heavy clothes that he’d worn for the flight over and drop his bag. Qrow followed after James and closed the door behind him. He leaned against it and watched as James stripped out of his sweater until he was wearing just an undershirt.

“So I uh…” Qrow rubbed at his head. “I’m kind of hungover.” He said, wincing at the realization that James probably wasn’t going to be happy about that. James just nodded, like he didn’t even want to deal with it. He stopped there by the second bed to remove his shoes, and then slid out of his pants so that James was just in his underwear.

“That’s fine.” James mumbled as he crawled into their bed and collapsed into it. Qrow felt himself grow deeply concerned then and there. He’d expected that James would get back and be tired, but usually James was in the mood to talk when he got in, not exhausted like this.

Qrow stepped over to the fridge to get two bottles of water before he went to the bed and climbed up into it alongside James, who was lying on his stomach with his face buried in his pillow. A soft smile creased Qrow’s face, and he gently pressed one of the cool bottles to the back of James’ neck, earning a groan from the other man.

“I got you water.” Qrow murmured, gently moving the cool bottle down and onto James’ left side. “You alright?”

James reached back, trying for the bottle of water only for Qrow to move it away from James’ hand with a laugh. That made James smile, and sit up partially so that he could properly snatch the bottle away from Qrow. “I’m just tired, Qrow.” James said, uncapping the bottle and sitting up a bit more so that he could drink.

Qrow leaned in close to James and rested his head on the cool metal of the right side of James’ chest. He looked up at James through his eyelashes, watched as James capped the bottle again and relaxed under his weight. “I was worried about you.” Qrow mumbled, letting his eyes flick shut. “I didn’t want to be stranded out here without you.”

“I know.” James murmured back, quiet. Qrow vaguely was able to make out the feeling of James’ cool fingers carding their way through his hair. When had James gotten rid of the damn glove? “You know if it gets bad again I will have to go, right?”

“I could come with you.” Qrow said. “Take this thing out of Vacuo.”

Those words made James stiffen, quite noticeably. Qrow picked his head up and stared up at James, seeing that there was a look of worry and pain on his face that never would have gotten shown outside of this room.

It had  _ always  _ been this way.

“We’ll always have Vacuo.” James had said smiling that first time nearly two decades ago when they’d separated after the Vytal Festival. And for years, they had just that. They had Vacuo, the only times they were together were when they were in Vacuo and able to hide.

Feeling wasn’t supposed to grow from it. Definitely not love.

But it had, and every year he and James had made their way to Vacuo, and for an entire week, they were almost like newlyweds until they had to inevitably part. James would pack his things, and go back to Atlas to be the General. And Qrow would be left alone to wander as he always was.

And Qrow was so, so tired of it.

“JIm?”

James opened his mouth to say something and looked away from Qrow and at a painting on the wall instead. He was going to avoid the topic, Qrow realized then. He sat up properly, lifting his head away from the comfort of James’ metal.

With one hand, Qrow reached out and cupped James’ left cheek, gently pulling James’ eyes over to him. “Jim, talk to me?”

“Qrow, I can’t-” James didn’t look up at him. Only closed those blue eyes to try and hide. “It’s not-”

“Jim,” Qrow said, feeling a little frustrated with the other man already. “I don’t get what the big deal is. We’ve been doing this for twenty years. So why can’t we-”

“My position.” James gripped Qrow’s hand and pulled it away from his face, instead just setting it down gently on Qrow’s knee. “It’s not simple, you know that. I want to, Qrow, but I can’t.” 

Qrow grit his teeth, and bit out the only thing that he could think of to say. “You’re a  _ coward. _ ” The words almost caught him off guard, and the way that James flinched hearing those words. Qrow doubled down.

He pushed himself up out of the bed and stepped across the room so that he was away from James. “I’m so-” he almost tripped on a pair of pants that had been abandoned on the floor. Probably his own. “- _ sick _ of doing this, Jim. You and I love each other, we do this every year, and it’s always the same shit. Why can’t we just…”

“Stop?” James finished, sounding mildly terrified. “Qrow did you call me out here to-”

Wait, what?

“-No!” Qrow cut James off. “I just want to…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I want to walk with you, and hold your hand, and have dinners with you that aren’t room service. I want to stop living my entire love life in hotel rooms once a year, I want to have something  _ normal _ with you.” He tried to control his breathing. “But instead, I have to  _ hide _ everything because you’re too chickenshit to do  _ anything _ with me outside of this.”

“So then what are you doing here?” James asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Like he was either going to get up and immediately fly back to Atlas, or worse, like he was going to leave Qrow there and get his own room. “If you apparently hate this so much, what are you doing here?”

Qrow froze. “I-” He tried to think of what he was supposed to say, since apparently he’d talked himself into a pretty awful corner. “James, I don’t hate this, I just want it to be different.” Qrow focused his eyes onto James’ face, to see that the expression painted there wasn’t right. It was hurt and upset, it wasn’t  _ James _ .

How badly did he just ruin things?

“Jim, I just want to feel like you love me more than once or twice a year.” Qrow froze, dropping his hands down to his sides in a form of submission. “That’s all I want.”

James sighed heavily, and pushed himself out of the bed. He stood up and pushed some of his hair back out of his face before going to his bag and unzipping it. Qrow craned to see what was inside, only to see that it was just James’ clothes, and was that James’ gun? “Look, I got you something, because I’m… I’m tired too, Qrow. And I wanted you to have it.” James found a small bag and held it out in Qrow’s direction. “I know it isn’t much. I know, it doesn’t fix things, but I want you to have it so that we can be… more.”

“More.” Qrow deadpanned. “So we can be more.” He reached out for the bag, and took it, feeling the weight of something small and metal inside. Qrow looked down at the bag, it was made of soft black velvet, and Qrow wondered whether James had gone out of his way to get a nice bag for a stupid gift.

He didn’t open it. Just tried to shove it into his pocket.

“Don-” James reached out and lunged forward, catching Qrow’s hand before the bag could disappear. With a swift motion, James pulled the bag opened and poured its contents out into his metal hand with two quiet clinks.

Sitting there, was a pair of keys. One silver, the other brass.

What?

Qrow looked up at James’ worried face, and then back down at the keys. “Are those-” 

“The silver one’s to my apartment, Qrow.” James said, quietly, like he was afraid of rejection. “The other one-”

Qrow’s eyes widened. He recognized that key. 

If James was giving him that key, he was  _ serious. _

“I know the other one, Jim. It’s to your liquor cabinet.” Qrow said, turning his eyes up to meet James’. “You’re serious.” 

“Yes.” James sounded afraid. “I know that… I know this isn’t enough, it won’t make you want to stick with me, but...” Hesitation. A sigh. James reached out and placed the keys in Qrow’s hand. “But I want you to have them.” 

Qrow swallowed and stared down at the pair of keys. This was James formally inviting him into his life on a more permanent basis. Not necessarily in a way that Qrow would have wanted, but it was a big deal. He knew James. James probably had been thinking about doing this for years before he finally decided to get copies of the keys made. 

“I love you, Qrow.” James whispered, looking down now, at the carpet. “I’ve loved you for a long time, and I’ve meant it every time that I’ve said it. I know, I don’t do enough. I know, I could do better. I know you want more. But I can’t just… go public.” 

Qrow shifted the keys in his hand and slipped them back into the bag that James had given him. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around James, pulling himself to James’ right side. He was able to make out the feeling of James’ arms wrapping around him, one cold and metal and the other impossibly warm. 

It was all too heavy in the end. Qrow nuzzled into the cool of James’ shoulder and closed his eyes. “It’s not enough.” Qrow whispered. He felt James stiffen under his touch again, and could even feel James trying to slip away from him. “But it’s something.” Qrow tightened his grip around James and stepped backwards, pulling James along with him. 

The back of his knees knocked against the edge of the bed, and together James and Qrow toppled into it. Qrow leaned up over James, wriggling his body so that he wasn’t trapped under James’ weight. He stared down at James, and once again cupped his jaw with one hand. “You really do want me around more?” 

James’ blue eyes softened. “More than anything, Qrow.” James said, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. “I know it’s not a lot, but you could come to Atlas more often, we could stop doing this… thing.” 

“But we wouldn’t be-” 

“We wouldn’t,” James confirmed. “But it’d be a step in that direction. And I want to take it, I”m just…”

“I know.” Qrow whispered. He leaned down, pressing his body to James’ the same way that he had a thousand times before. James picked his head up, and then they were kissing, slow, languid kisses that meant both nothing and everything. 

James’ fingers wound their way through Qrow’s black hair, and James twisted the two of them so that he could rest on top of Qrow. When the two finally broke away for air, James pressed his forehead to Qrow’s. 

“I love you.” His face was flushed, with a redness that flowed all the day down onto James’ shoulders. 

It was a very good look on James, and Qrow definitely wanted to have a better look at James, but for now, there were other matters of business to attend to. “I love you too.” Qrow whispered back, trying to sit up properly. “I got wine-” 

James laughed, that flush deepening. He sat up, leaning off of Qrow. Qrow got up, and stumbled across the room to find the bottle of wine and a pair of plastic cups- it wasn’t fancy, but it was good enough. 

If he remembered correctly, this was how their first meeting had been too. Cheap wine, plastic cups, and falling into bed after the tournament. It was so similar, but back then it had been a one night stand.

Now, it was something much  _ much _ more concrete, and Qrow absolutely loved that. 

James had given him his keys, James had invited him a little further into his life, and Qrow was going to take that shot. Things weren’t perfect, but they could play like they were. Qrow could come and go in James’ life as he pleased now, in theory at least. 

Qrow poured the wine, seated himself in the bed next to James and pressed himself alongside James’ right side. There was a short toast, a quick kiss, and then they were drinking. 

The plastic cups of wine went forgotten pretty quickly once James’ undershirt was gone. 

Not that they minded that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all comments and criticism are greatly appreciated.
> 
> [I'm on tumblr. Sometimes stuff happens. I'm always willing to take questions there!](http://tyrian-callows.tumblr.com/)


End file.
